Haitian Refugees Applying for Temporary Protected Status Obtain Help from Catholic Legal Services; $500 Application Fee and Bureaucracy Over Fee Waivers Pose Barriers
Legal Services E-lert
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Author: Alfonso Chardy
Source: “Catholic Legal Services Help Hundreds of Haitians With Immigration Papers,” The Miami Herald (FL)
Date: January 18, 2010
The Miami Herald reports: “Hundreds of undocumented Haitian immigrants crowded inside Notre Dame D'Haiti Catholic Church on Monday morning for help in filing applications for Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a federal immigration program that will allow them to remain legally in the United States and obtain work permits. A work permit was the priority for many of the more than 500 people who rushed into the church in Little Haiti seeking to file for TPS. Those interviewed at the church said they need jobs to send money to surviving or injured relatives back home, so they can rebuild their lives . . . . Though Catholic Legal Services is helping Haitian migrants fill out TPS forms for free, the migrants still have to pay the TPS filing fee plus fees for fingerprints and work permits: a total of almost $500. The TPS-related work permit is $340, the TPS filing fee is $50 and the fingerprint fee is $80. Those who cannot afford to pay can file a separate form requesting a fee waiver. But Randolph McGrorty, executive director of the Archdiocese of Miami's Catholic Legal Services, said he is advising Haitian migrants to pay if they can because asking for a waiver will delay delivery of the TPS status and the work permit . . . . For now, McGrorty said, Catholic Legal Services staffers are mainly explaining the TPS process to all those who show up. If they have their paperwork ready, staffers fill out the TPS forms. If not, they have to return at a later date. McGrorty said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security agency that will process the permits, is not yet prepared to accept applications.”